E \ ER^ circle lias a beginning and 
an end, even if it is sometimes ^ 
hard to locate them. The be- 
ginning of the garden circle usualU’ is 
supposed to be in April, but as a matter of 
fact September might be more accurately 
taken as the starting point; it marks the end 
of this year’s gardening for most crops, and 
should mark the beginning of the prepar- 
ations for next year’s garden. 
HE MONTH' 
REMINDER 
S middle of the day, in autumn, and so 
as to let in fresh air occasionally dur- 
ing moderate days in midwinter, it will 
aid very materially in keeping the vegetables. 
AUGUST, 1916 
For reckoning dates, the latitude of New York City is generally 
taken as a standard. In applying the directions to other 
localities, allow six days’ difference for every 
hundred miles of latitude 
T he most important work, of course, this 
month is harvesting. After all the time, the work and the expense 
that has been put into the production of garden crops it is, of course, 
only a matter of common sense to save everything 
arvesti^, the saved. Every fall hundreds of thousands 
on s ig JO go waste in small gardens which 
might have been utilized to cut down the winter’s ever growing gro- 
cery bill. Some of this waste is due to ignorance and some to laziness, 
but the greater part results from lack of preparedness in the harvesting 
season; crops are spoiled, or lost by frost before we realize that they 
might have been used. Get busy at once with the task of saving 
everything that can be saved in your garden this fall. 
Preparation. Preparedness in the harvesting season even for a small 
garden involves a great deal more than merely determining that you 
will save all the fruits and vegetables 
you can. \ ou must know in advance 
iust how each vegetable or fruit is 
to be handled, what, you are going to 
keep it in, and where it will keep best. 
Some things will have to be made or 
secured while there is danger of frost, 
while others may be left until snow 
flies. 
Equipment. One of the most im- 
portant things to procure in advance 
is a full line of “ containers” to hold 
the diflFerent fruits and vegetables 
you may be planning to keep. These 
usually may be procured now without 
trouble, but a few weeks later there is 
likely to be a scarcity of them and if 
you wait until you are in immediate 
need of them, you are likely to go 
without. It is essential to have con- 
tainers of different kinds because 
some vegetables to be kept at their 
best demand a free circulation of air 
about them, while others should be 
packed in some moisture-retaining 
material in tight boxes. The matter 
of convenience is also another very 
important point. At your grocer’s 
you can get second-hand “slat” or 
vegetable barrels and slatted vege- 
table or onion crates. Barrels are 
frequently used for storing vege- 
tables, but the ordinary light cracker 
box which holds about a bushel is 
both more convenient and cheaper. 
I hese can be procured at a price 
varying from four, hve to ten cents 
apiece, if you will ha\’e your grocer 
save them for you m advance. These boxes are excellent for keeping 
apples and other fruits and such vegetables as parsnips, salsify, turnips, 
beets and carrots, which should be kept well supplied with moisture. 
They are also convenient for packing late celery for blanching in the 
cellar for winter use. Onions, melons, small squash, tomatoes, to be 
ripened indoors will keep better in open or slatted crates. The latter 
cost from ten to fifteen cents apiece. 
Storage. Perhaps, of more importance than the “containers”, is 
the place in which your fruits and vegetables are to be kept. Gener- 
ally both a very cool and rather moist place (such as a summer storage 
room) and a warm exceptionally dry place (like an attic or a second 
story room near a chimney) can be utilized to the best advantage. 
Some fruit and vegetables require the former and others the latter con- 
dition, to keep best. Above all things, however, the storage room 
should be perfectly clean. Get it ready now — the longer between the 
time you “clean it out” and the time you put your fruit and vegetables 
into it the better. Cellar room should be thoroughly dry and well 
aired as well as clean, and preferably given a coat of whitewash each 
season. If the cellar is not provided with good ventilation, now is the 
time to put in a window or two. Should the cellar be so arranged as 
Plant this Month 
^Vegetables, under glass: Lettuce, radish, beans; to- 
matoes, cucumbers and melons if wanted for winter use. 
^Vegetables, outside, for zvintering over: Spinach, onions 
(seed), perennial onions. For "^dormant” planting just be- 
fore frost: Beets, carrot, swiss chard, lettuce, onions, 
smooth peas, radish, parsnips, spinach, turnips. Replant 
rhubarb roots. 
^Flowers, /or under glass: Alyssum, Snapdragon, Aspara- 
gus, Candytuft, Gypsophila, Heliotrope, Mignonette, 
Klorning Glories (dwarf), Nasturtiums (dwarf), Stevia, 
Stocks, Sweet Peas, etc. 
^Flowers, for wintering in frames: Pansies, Beilis per- 
enms, Myosotis, and other half-hardy perennials and bi- 
ennials (see August Reminder). Transplant July and 
August seedlings. 
^Flowers, outside: Hardy perennials, such as Iris, Peonies, 
Larkspur, Phlox, Lychnis. Divide and replant old clumps. 
* Bulbs, out of doors, for hardy border, bulb border, and 
naturalizing: Tulips, Narcissus, Daffodils, Hyacinths, 
Crocus, Chionodoxa, Crown Imperials, Fntillaria, Scilla, 
Snowdrop, English and Spanish Iris, and hardy Lilies. 
^Bulbs, for forcing and growing indoors: Achimenes, 
Allium, Anemone, Calla, Crocuses, Freesias, French 
Roman Hyacinths, Gladiolus, Oxalis, Tulips, Narcissus, 
Hyacinths, Lilies (suitable kinds only). 
^Sbrubs and Trees: Hardy deciduous shrubs, such as 
Berberis, Deutzias, Forsythia, Spirea, etc.; and deciduous 
ornamental trees, such as Maples, Elms, etc. 
^[Fruit Trees: Only where climate is favorable for fall 
planting; and even then preferably not the “stones.” 
'^HE following very briefly put directions 
A will give an idea of the methods to be 
pursued with various vegetables and fruits: 
Beans. To can in glass or tin. If dry. 
How to under cover to shell later. 
Harvest beans may be stored, poles 
' and all. 
Cabbage, Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts: Cabbages may be hung 
up bv^ the roots two or three together from the rafters, or stored in 
“slat” barrels. Cauliflower may be protected where growing by 
marsh hay. Take up immature plants with soil and transplant to 
deep frame, keeping dark. Brussels sprouts same as cabbage, or they 
may be left out as frost improves them. 
Melons and other cucurbits are easily injured by frost. Gather be- 
fore danger from this source, leaving a couple of inches of vine on either 
side of the stem. Immature fruits will ripen gradually after storing. 
Brush off all soil, handle with the greatest care so as to prevent any 
bruising and leave in a sheltered, sunny place until time for storing. 
Lettuce and salad plants. At a threat of freezing weather, cover rows 
with straw or marsh hay, transplant small plants to coldframe, pre- 
ferably under a double-glass sasb, and 
cut back foliage to prevent wilting. 
Celery. “ Bank up ” or bleach with 
convenient individual plant blanch- 
ers for early use. For fall use store 
in well-drained trench deep as celery 
is on outside. For winter use put a 
little moist soil in the bottom of the 
cracker box or other “container”; 
pack plants in tight and at the ap- 
proach of severe weather store in the 
cellar. 
Potatoes. Store in coolest place 
available as soon as dry after digging. 
Dig sweet potatoes before hard frost, 
and store in driest, warmest place 
available. 
Options. Pull 
immediately; let 
tops die down and rake over ever\’ 
day until dry. Store in open shed 
until danger of freezing, remove tops, 
and store in cellar in open crates. 
Root crops. Beets, carrots, tur- 
nips, rutabagas, carrots and parsnips 
and salsify are all handled in much 
the same way, except that the latter 
may be left out all winter without in- 
jury. For convenience, however, the 
greater part of even these should be 
stored. Dig before ground freezes. 
In removing tops, do not cut too 
close; leave the “crown,” so root will 
not bleed. Pack in sand or sphag- 
num moss in convenient boxes, and 
store with potatoes. 
Tomatoes. Do not let tomatoes go 
to waste. Early this month cut 
away soft growth and small fruits to 
hasten development of half grown tomatoes. Just before frost gather 
all fruits, and sort carefully. Green ones, stored in straw in empty 
coldframe, will ripen. Green fruits in dry cellar, packed in straw, or 
left on vines, hung up after trimming off foliage, will mature slowly 
for some weeks. 
Sweet corn. Cut and shock just before first hard 
ears on. Use ears from outside of shock first. Others wi 
condition for .some time. 
Peppers and Eggplants. Just before hard frost, gather, and store in 
frost, leaving 
11 keep in good 
open crates in medium temperature. 
EARLY THIS MONTH 
D ON’T let the work of harvesting cause you to overlook the op- 
portunities for planting which there will be during the next two 
to let cold air in readily at night and to be kept closed during the 
weeks. There is probably no important phase of garden work more 
frequently overlooked than fall planting. 
Send in orders early for hardy perennials and her- 
baceous plants, deciduous trees, bulbs. Peonies, hardy 
Lilies and other ornamental stock which can be planted 
at this time, much of which, although it could be left untd spring, is bet- 
ter planted now, because you now have more time than you are likely to 
Starting the 
New Circle 
||H 
o8 
